First, all three are connected to Central Catholic. Boyle and Stephens played there and Csensits coaches the current Vikings.

And all three have connections to DeSales University and its longtime head coach, Scott Coval.

Boyle coached for two years under Coval in the 1990s, and coached Stephens, who he claims, kiddingly we assume, "Never played any defense for me."

Csensits also played at DeSales and still works with Coval as the school's director of athletic advancement.

"To me, the biggest common thread between the three of us is our association with the DeSales program," Csensits said. "And with the job that Scott has done there, I think we're all proud of that association.

"Not only the athletic department, but the entire school has come so far in a short period of time and the success of the basketball program speaks for itself. It has been neat to watch it grow and Scott's a great resource for all of us. He's a great guy to give a call and bounce some ideas off of and can stimulate your thinking on a lot of levels."

But beyond their connections to CCHS, DeSales and Coval, all three have something else in common: a knack for bringing their teams through a season the right way and peaking at the right time.

As the state tournament begins this weekend, Boyle's Notre Dame-Green Pond Crusaders, Stephens' Parkland Trojans and Csensits' Vikings all hope to continue the good feelings they felt last weekend at Easton Area Middle School, where CCHS took the Class 3A gold on Friday and Notre Dame and Parkland claimed 2A and 4A banners on Saturday.

All three championship teams played with great passion and unity and allowed none of those title games to go to the wire.

Now, the trick is to keep it going.

Every state playoff game offers its share of mystery and suspense as unfamiliar foes, often playing unfamiliar styles, get together.

At this point of the season, you just never know what you're going to get.

"It's good that we're playing locally," Stephens said, noting that his team's game against Ridley will follow his friend Boyle and Notre Dame's game against Constitution on the four-game card at Allen on Saturday. "I think that will help us.

"But we know that District One is always so strong. Ridley played Lower Merion twice, and they lost the first time by 30, but the second time they only lost by seven and we know that Lower Merion is loaded."

Stephens said that it's fine to be considered one of the best teams in the district, but he said his long-term goal at Parkland is to get the program to a point where it would be considered one of the best programs in the state.

"When you win districts, you're on such a high," Stephens said. "You can go into the state tournament thinking that since Chester and Lower Merion and a lot of other really good teams are in it, 'What are the chances of us advancing deep?' But I'd like our guys to have a short-term memory and go into this tournament just seeing what can happen.

"We've taken a look at the brackets and if the reports I am getting are accurate, the first two games for us are winnable if we play well. The third game would likely be Chester. But somebody's got to play Chester before we'd even get there. So, you never know what can happen."

Parkland had an improbable run to the state final in 2004 when several quality teams, including the Trojans' nemesis, Whitehall, got upset. The Zephs beat the Trojans four times that year, but lost in the second round.

"Sometimes you get Lady Luck on your side and things fall into your lap," Stephens said. "The point is, I don't want our guys just happy to make the tournament. Let's try to win a couple of games."

As the coach of the state's No. 3 ranked team in the 3A classification for most of the season, Csensits and Central may have more expectations than any of the eight other Morning Call-area teams entering the PIAA tournament.

Csensits likes his team's mind-set entering Friday's game against Northeastern.

"We've had some good practices and the kids are really enthusiastic," Csensits said. "The kids have great energy. That's really important because it's a long year with a lot of practices and a lot of games. You want kids to be fresh and excited about playing."

That said, Csensits said there's not a cupcake among the 32 teams in the 3A bracket.

"They're all accomplished teams and they're here for a reason," Csensits said. "Northeastern has a kid [Khalid Nwandu] going to Mount St. Mary's who's averaging 20 points per game and he'll pose some challenges for us. He's not a guy you can put one guy on and stop. It's going to take a team effort defensively."

He said Northeastern is well-coached and will throw a lot of looks at his Vikings. He expects "one heck of a basketball game."

Certainly, so does Boyle when his team faces last year's Class A state champion Constitution.